Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Zhang You was panicking. It had been less than an hour since the Dragon King left, but his chest already felt like it was being constricted, and even a light press against his chest gave him pain. Fine beads of sweat kept seeping out from his palms, which were always wet no matter how often he tried to wipe the sweat away. His two temples were fluttering violently, his head buzzing painfully.
He knew that these were symptoms of the poison taking effect.
If he were more familiar with the organizations in Jade City, he would have gone to Golden Roc Castle for help. But in his eyes, the whole Western Regions was a mess, not to mention this small Jade City, so he waited in patience. The moment dawn broke, he sent someone to inquire as to the Dragon King’s whereabouts.
During the last two days, he had inquired more than ten times. The last day, Zhang You felt that the symptoms were growing more and more obvious. He kept pacing up and down in his tent anxiously. In the afternoon he was informed that the Dragon King had come back and invited him to have an audience with him. He was so delighted that he almost wept for joy.
This was the third time that he had ever met the Dragon King. The stereotype of the Dragon King with a cold, murderous look had long been engraved in his mind. Upon seeing that fairly pale face, Zhang You involuntarily felt a cold shiver overcome him.
The Dragon King’s tent was not small, but there were barely any furnishings in it. There was plenty of room, which was more than enough for a fight. As a result, the tent looked just as cold as its owner, partly because Zhang You had gotten to know the Dragon King better.
“I’ve been waiting for the Dragon King for a long time.”
“Um.” Sitting on a short couch, Gu Shenwei watched the obsequious eunuch and started sizing him up. Never underestimate anybody – this was a lesson that he had learned after all these years. “Take it,” he said, tossing a pill to him.
Zhang You cupped his hands in front of his chest. The pill fell right into his hands. He hurriedly swallowed it and exhaled deeply, “Thank you, Dragon King, for your kindness. I feel much better now. It’s just that I still have chest pain. Is that normal?”
“It’s nothing. Get some sleep and it will be gone.” Gu Shenwei wouldn’t point out that the so-called chest pain was just an illusion.
“Did the Dragon King… succeed?”
Gu Shenwei didn’t answer his question. “I heard that you’ve done a lot of things during the past two days.”
Zhang You involuntarily bowed and put on a servile smile. The more haughty the Dragon King appeared, the more at ease he felt. “Actually, I didn’t do anything important. I just offered some advice to those lords. I did it without the Dragon King’s prior consent and I hope that you won’t mind.”
Zhang You had done him a big favor. Both the Dragon King and the Governor of the Western Regions had gone missing. The next day, the consultation was held as usual in the Four Noble Truths Temple. The Unique King probably had discovered something amiss. He didn’t attend the meeting himself, and instead sent a sect leader there.
In the meeting, two kung fu experts from the Central Plains had confirmed that the wound on Ma Lian was indeed not caused by a narrow saber. Instead, it was more likely to be caused by the single saber that Lord Ma’s bodyguard carried.
The identity of the assassin had suddenly changed. The next step was to find out who had been the closest to that bodyguard during his stay in the Western Regions. More and more clues were found, and eventually, they all pointed to Wei Song, who had left Jade City hastily.
The supreme officer of the Western Regions designated by the Central Plains had murdered the envoy sent by the Emperor. This was incredible, and nobody dared to draw such a conclusion. Zhang You exerted his talent and suggested to the deputy envoy, Sun Chengqi, to investigate the acting Governor of the Western Regions, which made things much easier. Sun Chengqi reluctantly agreed. He sent out his men and found more proof which all indicated that Wei Song was indeed the mastermind behind the assassination.
With regards to his motives, the nonsense that Han Fen, who was a disciple of the Waning Moon Hall, had said that day proved helpful. The prostitute in the Pleasure Alley confirmed that a couple of years ago, when Wei Song was still the Governor, he had been one of her regular customers, and that this time, he had meant to revive their prior relationship only to find that the envoy of the Central Plains had already anticipated him.
As a result, that teenage assassin named Yang Hao had become insignificant. His appearance was just a coincidence.
Gu Shenwei was not very satisfied with this flaw-ridden story, but it was too late to make up a new one. This also indicated that Yan Qin was eager to co-opt the Dragon King, which was an opportunity that he could use.
“Here are a couple of letters that were written by Wei Song. Maybe they can be useful.”
Zhang You took those pieces of paper and quickly browsed through them, and then he raised his head in excitement. “Great. It turns out that this treacherous bastard Wei Song secretly held grudges against Assistant Minister Yan. When these letters are delivered to the capital, Assistant Minister Yan will surely say that Dragon King did a good job by killing him… ”
Zhang You hurriedly clutched his mouth. The Dragon King had come back rather soon, and news of Wei Song’s death hadn’t been delivered here yet, which meant that nominally, he shouldn’t know about it.
Gu Shenwei didn’t mind. News that Wei Song and his attendants had died in a fire would spread across all of Jade City by tomorrow afternoon at the latest. He also knew that Zhang You had exaggerated. In the first two letters, Wei Song had just expressed his doubts about Assistant Minister Yan’s decision in an extremely ambiguous manner. He hadn’t expressed any discontent at all.
Zhang You took out the fourth letter soaked by ink and said thoughtfully, “No matter who this ‘Guansheng’ was, he might be a co-conspirator of Wei Song’s in the Imperial Court. He’s worth some investigation.”
Gu Shenwei was startled. Zhang You was clearly Yan Qin’s henchman. Why was he unaware that “Yan Di,” or “Yan Guansheng” was his master’s adopted son? But he concealed his surprise. “Maybe he’s a minister whose surname is Guan.”
“That’s impossible. I know all of the officials above third-rank and more than half of those above fifth-rank. There’s nobody whose surname is Guan. ‘Guansheng’ should be someone’s middle name. Didn’t Wei Song confess to it in front of Dragon King?”
“I found these letters after he died,” Gu Shenwei lied casually, lodging these two characters firmly in his mind.
“Wei Song… talked about a lot of things, right?”
“A lot. And all of them were things that Assistant Minister Yan wouldn’t be too happy to hear.”
Zhang You’s face briefly changed. He gave two coughs and said, “Then I’ll be honest with you. Assistant Minister Yan harbors some resentment towards the Dragon King’s father, General Gu. It was him who ordered the assassination of all of the members of the Gu family. What’s done is done. Nobody can defend him. If the Dragon King is determined to get your revenge, then I’m standing right here. You can start with me.”
Zhang You said these words in a heroic manner, but before the Dragon King could state his stance, Zhang You said in a different tone, “But, if the Dragon King can see things in a more visionary and open-minded manner, then the reward that you’ll receive will be much more handsome than Jade City.”
“For the record, I killed Wei Song because he tried to kill me first.”
“I know. I know. I’ll write a letter to Assistant Minister Yan and explain the whole thing in detail. Wei Song ignored the big picture and took action without prior consent. His crime deserves more than his death. He will by no means become an obstacle between the Dragon King and Assistant Minister Yan.”
“Um. He was a mortal enemy of mine who murdered my father, which is not easy for me to forget.”
“Of course. But there’s an old saying: ‘Seeking revenge is an endless path.’ If the Dragon King thinks that revenge is more important than supremacy, then I have no more words to say, and I’m willing to die in the line of duty for Jade City.”
“Keep talking. What kind of reward can I get?” Gu Shenwei’s voice was a little reluctant, as if he were having an intense struggle in his mind.
Zhang You saw this as a sign of his success. “The Dragon King is in the Western Regions, but do you know that your every action matters very much to the Imperial Court of the Central Plains?”
“I don’t.”
“Ha. After the battle in Thousand Horsemen Pass, the Dragon King has become a legend. Prince Xiao claimed that he made a great contribution, but anybody with any sense knows what the truth is.”
As Gu Shenwei had expected, the biggest reason why Yan Qin wanted to ingratiate himself with the Dragon King was that he wanted to bring down Prince Xiao. Once the Dragon King went to the envoy of the Central Plains and exposed Prince Xiao’s fraudulent claims of military exploits, he would be able to change the situation in the Imperial Court of the Central Plains.
Gaining the support of dignitaries of the Central Plains at a tiny cost seemed like a valuable deal, but Gu Shenwei was very cautious about it. Even if it didn’t involve his seeking revenge, he wouldn’t easily take the offer either. The low cost meant that the Dragon King would be useless to them after Prince Xiao was brought down, and he wouldn’t have anything to counterbalance Yan Qin’s power with.
“Prince Xiao and I won the battle together. This is the truth,” Gu Shenwei said flatly.
Zhang You smiled. He couldn’t handle things like intruders into his tent at night or torture, but he had made preparations for situations like these. “Certainly. So far, Prince Xiao is still a big hero in the Central Plains, which is also the exact reason why Assistant Minister Yan needs the Dragon King, and why the Dragon King has a chance to expand his territory.”
“Expand my territory?”
Zhang You nodded slowly and meaningfully. He knew that these words were irresistible to any overlord. “If I may be so bold as to ask – where does the Dragon King want to settle down after you get what you want?”
“Jade City.”
“Just Jade City?”
“I also want to subject Xiaoyao Lake and the Shule Kingdom to my rule. And then I’ll ally with the Norland as well as the Central Plains.”
“In that case, besides the fact that Jade City will no longer be under the rotational rule of three countries, everything will actually stay the same.”
“That’s pretty much the case. This is how big the Western Regions are.”
“Ha-ha. ‘This is how big the Western Regions are.’ I can tell that the Dragon King is a man with great ambition just from hearing these words. The Western Regions is not big enough, but isn’t there still the boundless grasslands to the north?”
“A snake can never swallow an elephant. That’s beyond my capability.”
“Ha-ha. With just a little assistance, the Dragon King will become a true dragon, and not just a snake. And Assistant Minister Yan can offer you this ‘assistance.’ Prince Xiao’s promise is loud enough, but as pleasant as it sounds, it’s not actually practical. All he can give you is merely the identity of the Lord of Jade City, together with the official title of the Dragon King. But do you know that the kung fu expert that Prince Xiao invited here from the Central Plains is Luo Qikang of the Hedong Luo Village? Luo Qikang has a reputation for being invincible. He colluded with Wei Song the moment he arrived in the Western Regions. That day in the Four Noble Truths Temple, the guard standing right behind Wei Song was Luo Qikang, who was originally planning to attack the Dragon King. Can you still believe Prince Xiao,’s words Dragon King?”
Zhang You had been preparing these remarks for days. He talked unceasingly, as if he had turned from a cowardly eunuch servant into a skilled lobbyist in the blink of an eye. The quality of the latter was why Yan Qin had made him his henchman.
“Please think about this, Dragon King. The several hundred thousand troops of the Central Plains will progress straight into the Norland and slaughter the Khan’s bloodline. Those survivors will have no choice but to flee thousands of miles away. The grasslands will become a nation with no leader, but the Central Plains won’t be able to station their armies there for long, and will thus need an ally to occupy the grasslands. This ally will not be easy to pick. If they pick a random person, then the people of the grasslands won’t support him. If they pick a descendant of the Khan, then he will rebel sooner or later. There are so many heroes under the sun, but Assistant Minister Yan thinks that the Dragon King is the ideal one. The Dragon King was born in the Central Plains, grew up in the Western Regions, and has lain a foundation in the Norland, which makes you the perfect candidate to be the new lord of the grasslands.”
“The people of the grasslands won’t support me either. They have gotten used to the rule of the Khan’s bloodline. The ‘foundation’ that I have laid is far from enough to make me the Khan.”
“Assistant Minister Yan has thought of this issue a long time ago, so he has come up with an extremely simple solution.”
“Oh?”
“Dragon King must have known that General Gu and the former Emperor were once taken hostage in the Norland for a decade.”
‘You finally mentioned this,’ Gu Shenwei thought as he nodded.
“The Dragon King happened to be born during the period of General Gu’s hostage period. Of course, General Gu had a chance to go back to the Central Plains every year, but if Dragon King doesn’t mind, it would be totally fine to… ”
Zhang You didn’t continue.
“To claim that my natural mother was a member of the Khan’s family.”
“That’s right. Originally, this would not be easy to prove. But by sheer coincidence, the Second Consort has surrendered to the Central Plains. Though I won’t have enough time to consult with Assistant Minister Yan, I think that I can persuade the Second Consort to testify so. As long as she claims that the Dragon King is the old Khan’s grandson, I’m sure a considerable number of people of the grasslands will believe her. Dragon King-”
Gu Shenwei had heard enough. He abruptly stood up, grabbed the hilt of the saber and snapped, “So you, a cheap servant, still refuses to tell the truth?”
Zhang You knelt down in panic, wondering how he had given himself away.
